My First Beaver Trapping Experience

By Wyatt Tate

People have trapped in Potter County, Pennsylvania for centuries but for me and my dad, 2023 was our first trapping season.

One of the animals we wanted to trap was a beaver.

We set out to find the beaver pond on some state game land.

We looked for fresh chewed-off sticks, a hut, and a dam – classic signs that a beaver is in the area.

Once my dad and I found a good spot we started to explore the area and we found some beech trees that had been chewed down and sticks that were indeed freshly chewed, as well as older chewed-up trees.

We found a plot of chewed sticks where the beaver sat to feed and we knew that was an active beaver pond.

Beaver can live in two different types of homes: huts built free-standing in a pond, or a bank dwelling that is burrowed into the side of a stream.

In this pond, we found a beaver hut.

With our waders and rubber boots, we explored more to see if there were fresh slides and chewed-off sticks by the beaver hut. We were excited to see that there was a fresh sign of beaver!

We decided this was the place to set beaver traps.

The first few days we checked the traps and didn’t have anything. Dad and I both had our bobcat tags filled, the first thing either one of us had caught so I was thankful, but still a little sad that we didn’t have a beaver.

A couple of days after that we rode with our friend John who has lots of trapping experience with beavers.

We explored this same pond again and he told us where to move our traps for a better chance to catch a beaver. I was hopeful again that we would be successful.

The very next day my dad and I were checking traps and as we walked toward the beaver trap, we noticed something was different……

As we approached closer and closer, we noticed all the sticks around the trap had been chewed up!

We started to get excited, could this be it?!

Dad said, “Look, Bud, we have a beaver!”

I jumped up and down, I was super excited to catch our first beaver together.

Dad and I took pictures, dispatched the beaver, and then took more pictures.

Most people don’t know but parts of the beaver are edible and with the right processing and cooking are an excellent source of protein.

I didn’t even know that until we started trapping. I’m so thankful that God has created the beaver that I could harvest with my dad.

This is a memory I will never forget.